- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (16 Feb 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571212980
- ISBN-13: 978-0571212989
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 28,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"'A singular triumph... It makes our cinematic history vivid and invigorating in a way few books have yet managed.' Empire 'Very well-informed and effortlessly funny. I doubt there will be a better film book this year.' Independent"
Colin Waters, Sunday Herald, 30 January 2005
Shepperton Babylon is an important and damned enjoyable book that had to be written and should be read.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a warm and witty portrait of british cinema by an author who has obviously spent thousands of hours talking with old survivors of the british movie business and wathing the films themselves - something that not all authors on this subject can claim.
It's completely, utterly fascinating - it's like going to a seance and seeing the dead conjured before your eyes. All kinds of bizarre and shocking stories are here, but Sweet tells them with tenderness and humour. It's a funny, tragic treat that has captured stories and experiences that other wise would have been lost forever.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this a fascinating account of British cinema history - warts and all.
And it is a strange history - the sudden upheavals, the scarcely credible characters, the gap between sumptuous cinematic image and seedier realities, the saviours of British cinema arriving in some very odd disguises.
All told with an eye for telling detail and a vast knowledge of the material. And underpinned by a deep affection for British cinema - if not always for its leading players.
While its true the author sometimes does not pull his punches the book is clearly a personal history, and in my view he is entitled to his opinion.
British cinema may have sometimes been a shabby, shallow or ill-funded thing but its always been our own. All its stories deserve to be told and this book is an excellent guide to the less well known.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
for me the joy of this book was reading about the silent era and discovering just how good the British silent film era was. What is so sad is nigh on 80% of all silent films of that era are lost. Sweet's book completely changed my view of this period of British film making which as been overshadowed by Hollywoods great success and the fact there has long been a predjudiced view of British fim making in that era.
I found this book a fascinating revelation and though it goes on to cover later eras it is at it's best, for me, when revealing a lost history of silent films. This book is a real gem for anyone with interest in the British film industry and a great read.
I found this book a fascinating revelation and though it goes on to cover later eras it is at it's best, for me, when revealing a lost history of silent films. This book is a real gem for anyone with interest in the British film industry and a great read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A must read for film lovers
Recommended to me by a friend as something I might enjoy, and they were right. A lovely snapshot of Britain's film making legacy, which touches on the lives and fates of many of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by theTramp
Interesting history, but leaves a foul taste in the mouth
I haven't been so frustrated by a book for a long time. The history of British cinema is fascinating and well researched, but the way the book is written is sniping, patronising,... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by T. Guest
Uneven but worthwhile
This is, in my opinion, a fascinating insight into the history not just of a particular British studio but also a whole era in British cinema. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2008 by Post Scriptum
Sniping disguised as history.
Matthew Sweet's prose is so charming and elegantly constructed that it captivates from the first chapter; long before the more saleable 'salacious elements' arrive. Read more
Published on 4 May 2005 by J. Myers
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